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Lasseter stepped down from Disney after acknowledging "missteps" in behaviour with staff

John Lasseter, who stepped down from Disney last year after acknowledging 'missteps' in his behaviour with staff members, will head the recently launched animation division of production company Skydance Media. (Dan Steinberg/Invision/The Associated Press)

U.S. film production company Skydance Media on Wednesday named Pixar co-founder and former Disney animation chief John Lasseter as head of its animation division.

Lasseter, regarded as a modern-day Walt Disney because of his creativity and commercial success, left Disney late last year. His exit followed a six-month leave of absence after what he called "missteps," including unwanted hugs that made employees uncomfortable.

In a statement, Lasseter says he has spent the last year away from the industry in "deep reflection, learning how my actions unintentionally made colleagues uncomfortable."

Skydance CEO David Ellison says he didn't take the decision to hire Lasseter lightly. He credited Lasseter with attempting to address and reform his behaviour.

In a memo to staff, Ellison said Skydance employed outside counsel to "thoroughly investigate the allegations" against Lasseter.

"John has been forthright in taking ownership of his behaviour, apologized for his actions and has spent the past year on sabbatical analyzing and improving his workplace behaviour," Ellison told staffers.

"By saying Skydance has conducted an independent investigation and then proceeded to hire Lasseter, do they mean to suggest that they are hiring him in spite of the numerous accounts of women and colleagues?" said the group Women In Film, Los Angeles in a statement.

Hollywood anti-harassment organization Time's Up tweeted that the hiring perpetuates a broken system.

.<a href="https://twitter.com/Skydance?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Skydance</a> Media’s decision to hire John Lasseter as head of animation endorses and perpetuates a broken system that allows powerful men to act without consequence. <a href="https://t.co/GuVAfZDHah">pic.twitter.com/GuVAfZDHah</a>